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JINR and Kazakhstan strengthen cooperation

On 22 March, Vice-Minister of Science and Higher Education of Kazakhstan Darkhan Ahmed-Zaki visited JINR. As part of the visit, a meeting was held with JINR Directorate, at which new joint projects were discussed, including the development of advanced scientific infrastructure in Kazakhstan. Darkhan Ahmed-Zaki took part in the JINR CP meeting and also learnt about the scientific infrastructure of the laboratories of the Joint Institute.

JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov thanked the Minister for supporting the interests of the Institute in the field of nuclear physics and experimental research. "For the Institute, the support provided both at the level of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan and at the level of Head of State is very valuable. Representatives of Kazakhstan possess leading positions in the number of thesis defenses at the Institute. We try to promote the diversified development of young specialists so that they can gain scientific, administrative and organizational experience useful for implementing large projects in Kazakhstan," Grigory Trubnikov noted.

"Nuclear physics is a collective science that unites the efforts of many specialists. Over the past decades, when the work of Kazakhstani scientists at JINR has significantly intensified, more than 150 young specialists have been trained, many of whom fruitfully work in all laboratories of the Institute at present. We are very pleased that the work of our scientists makes a significant contribution to the greater world science. The fact that Kazakh specialists participated in collaborations on the NICA project is a great success for all of us," Darkhan Ahmed-Zaki said.

The parties discussed the implementation of several scheduled joint projects in the areas of nuclear medicine, as well as the development of a large facility with an ultracold neutron channel. An advanced research project with ultracold neutrons has already succeeded to attract the attention of not only scientists from Dubna and Kazakhstan, but also specialists from many countries. JINR is going to take an active part in the design and development of a number of research facilities in Kazakhstan.

As an example of successful cooperation experience, the parties noted the development of the DC-60 accelerator complex in Kazakhstan with the help of JINR. Another example was the launch of a cloud computing cluster based at the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Almaty in 2023.

As Darkhan Ahmed-Zaki emphasized, today, the priority areas in scientific research for Kazakhstan are nuclear physics, information technologies and nuclear medicine. He noted that currently, the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan provides significant support to science, paying special attention to attracting young people. In this regard, the development of joint programmes for the training of highly qualified scientific personnel at JINR is of particular interest.

On the same day, Darkhan Ahmed-Zaki took part in the meeting of the JINR Committee of Plenipotentiaries being held these days. He pointed out the significance of international cooperation, spoke about joint projects being implemented together with JINR scientists in the republic and confirmed his intentions for further cooperation.

Darkhan Ahmed-Zaki visited the site of the NICA megaproject, the IBR-2 pulsed reactor, the Superheavy Element Factory and the Govorun supercomputer. At the end of the visit programme, Vice-Minister held a meeting with the national group of the Republic of Kazakhstan at JINR, where Head of the group Erzhan Mukhamedzhanov made a report on the activities of scientists.